Parenting Preschoolers (3-5) Support Group
This community is focused on the joys, challenges and concerns faced by parents of preschoolers (3 to 5 year olds). The major areas of child development include: physical development, perception and sensory development, communication and language development, cognitive development, emotional development and social development. Join to share your stories and get advice.
This was brought up in the "Parenting Big Kids" community and I thought with the holidays here, it would be a good idea to share my post about too many toys!
I agree. Most kids have way too many toys these days. And I'm as guilty as ever. However, we have a few rituals and traditions in our house that do tend to cut down on the crap. Here are a list of ideas that you might find helpful:
1. With the holidays coming up, have your child donate one old toy, for each new toy that he/she receives. The key here is, they have to pick the donation toy BEFORE they can play with the new toy. Otherwise, you may never get that toy into the donation bag. You can donate the toys to Women and Children's Shelters, low-income schools, child-care centers, etc.
2. For every birthday and Christmas (or Hanukkah), the kids have to pick 1-3 NEW gifts to donate to the Children's Hospital. This of course depends on how many gifts they receive. A few days after their birthdays, we take the toys (still in the wrappers) to the Children's Hospital and the nurses always let my children walk their gifts into the sick kids. The sick children's eyes light up and my kids smile from ear to ear. They love the idea of making a sick child feel better.
3. Have your children pick toys to put away for a future "garage sale" or "toy sale." With a little marketing and preparation, you can teach your child about buying, selling and the value of money. If they help out at the garage sale, they can use their money to buy a new toy.
4. And finally, rotate your children's toys. I keep a big box for toys up in the attic and every few months, I rotate their toys. When I pull out a toy that they haven't seen for 4 months, it's like a newfound treasure! Out-of-sight, out-of-mind... and a great boredom buster on a rainy day!
I hope that helps!
I agree. Most kids have way too many toys these days. And I'm as guilty as ever. However, we have a few rituals and traditions in our house that do tend to cut down on the crap. Here are a list of ideas that you might find helpful:
1. With the holidays coming up, have your child donate one old toy, for each new toy that he/she receives. The key here is, they have to pick the donation toy BEFORE they can play with the new toy. Otherwise, you may never get that toy into the donation bag. You can donate the toys to Women and Children's Shelters, low-income schools, child-care centers, etc.
2. For every birthday and Christmas (or Hanukkah), the kids have to pick 1-3 NEW gifts to donate to the Children's Hospital. This of course depends on how many gifts they receive. A few days after their birthdays, we take the toys (still in the wrappers) to the Children's Hospital and the nurses always let my children walk their gifts into the sick kids. The sick children's eyes light up and my kids smile from ear to ear. They love the idea of making a sick child feel better.
3. Have your children pick toys to put away for a future "garage sale" or "toy sale." With a little marketing and preparation, you can teach your child about buying, selling and the value of money. If they help out at the garage sale, they can use their money to buy a new toy.
4. And finally, rotate your children's toys. I keep a big box for toys up in the attic and every few months, I rotate their toys. When I pull out a toy that they haven't seen for 4 months, it's like a newfound treasure! Out-of-sight, out-of-mind... and a great boredom buster on a rainy day!
I hope that helps!
deleted_user
I agree! Mine have way to many toys and I find they are not grateful anymore...I to go through their toys and give some to several different organizations and get rid of broken stuff. I put some stuff away to that they don't play with and bring it out a couple months later...its like Chistmas again, lol.
deleted_user
So let me get this straight, for the #2, they give 1-3 of their brand new gifts away? I just want to make sure I understand this correctly. I would love to do that on my inlaws side cuze they aren't respecting the one present "rule". My kids don't need mroe than the 6-7 presents they do get and that's with everyone giving them just ONE!
deleted_user
I had mine donated what they didnt want to a church so the kids can use it there. I also had them get rid of books they were not reading anymore. And since i knew new clothes were coming I gave the old ones to charity also.
deleted_user
what we do or should I say I is I literally go through evry toy in their room and anything that is broke gets tossed and anything they don't play with or have outgrown we donate to a local shelter. I do this every x-mas and I give boxes of toys and clothes away. I refuse to sell anything it all gtes given away and thekids now understand we do this every year for kids who are less fortunate.
deleted_user
I give there toys to a local daycare a couple of times a year and clothing I split them up between a couple of people who really can use them.I would wether someone give me clothing instead of buying.I get so mad when I see the pricing of clothing and buying for two of them get expensive.
deleted_user
I agree. My kids are loaded with toys, we have a huge family and they never buy them any thing I want like clothing. So I have been doing this in the past year. Last week I emptyed four garbage bags full of toys I gave one to my sister who is going through a ruff time for her son. And I gave the rest to the elvs for christmass. I always bought new toys too, it show the kids that giving is as important as getting ;)
deleted_user
To answer SmileyFish... YES, they give a few of their brand NEW toys away. We also give away gently used toys... but every birthday and holiday, they have to pick 1-3 NEW gifts to give away too. We don't tell the person who bought the gift, but most people know we do give a few new ones away. I think it teaches the children about "compromise" and "sacrifice."
deleted_user
I got together with my sister in laws and we agreed that since the kids have so many close realatives and so many gifts for occasions that on christmas we would not buy gifts for nices and neffews but that we would buy premie outfits to donate to the local NICU where my daughter was. You can find NICU style outfits online. Its a great way to give kids who are usually full of tubes an outfit that makes them look and feel like a regular baby. I know I was glad to see her in a cute outfit rather than the hospital shirt.
Scottsmom
my husband gets so much pleasure spoiling our son I would never ruin it for him. When Zackary gets too old for a toy we give them away - he is always fine with this as he would never miss it! I love the idea of rotating toys!
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